UNBS moves to ease concerns over ‘fake’ eggs

Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has moved to dispel fears arising from media reports about the presence of Chinese-made sweets on the market that are shaped like eggs.

UNBS issued a statement distancing itself and its staff from a police investigation that is trying to track a Chinese company said to be making sweets shaped like eggs.

Citing a New Vision story that appeared on Sunday, UNBS said: “The story contains inaccuracies and misrepresentation of facts particularly on comments attributed to our market surveillance officer.

UNBS adds: “The products referred to in the article by our market surveillance team were actually sweets in packages that looked like egg shells but clearly labelled as Funny Toys.

UNBS went ahead to state that: “Apart from the appearance of the package, the product did not contain any features meant to mislead the public into believing that they are actual eggs.”

UNBS states that it was only investigating possible tampering of the product particularly regarding the expiry dates as well as labels in Chinese language which is a violation of Standards for labelling pre-packaged foods. Godwin Muhwezi Bonge, the UNBS Spokesperson told The Sunrise that the vision story was inaccurate for suggesting that the sweets were an imitation of real eggs.

“We have already seized the product for violating labelling standards. But it is not true that when you open them, they have a york like an egg.

They are sweets.” But when asked if the Funny Toys had undergone any testing for safety something that would assure customers of the product’s safety, Muhwezi replied in the negative.

And although UNBS claims it has not received any complaints from the public regarding ‘fake eggs on the market’, there are concerns among the general public about the eggs.

Along Kiyembe lane in Kampala – boys who were this week vending eggs as is their daily job, faced a hard time explaining to customers that theirs were not fake eggs.

Secondly, some parents have expressed concern that if their children are allowed the chance to taste the sweet superficial eggs, their children may reject the real eggs.

Other members of the public have expressed concern that UNBS is reneging on its duty to protect the public by protecting against this apparent crafty way to produce things that resemble eggs.